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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Courts, Judges and Politics

3. March 13, 2014 – The Influence of Politics on the Courts: The
Experience of the United States and Turkey The guest speakers will
be Kevin Thomas, who was sentenced by Judge Wolf to serve 8 years
in prison for selling a gun and later became a federal Probation
Officer, and Faruk Yarmin, who has a PhD from MIT, and was recently
exonerated and released from prison in Turkey after being convicted
on fabricated evidence and sentenced to 13 years in prisonfor
allegedly plotting a coup. The discussion will focus on the impact
of the democratic process on the courts in the United States, and
contrast its independent, impartial judiciary with the judiciary in
Turkey which often takes direction from elected officials.